Father and Son
by DreamingByDay
Summary: Anakin and ObiWan, sent on a dangerous mission to Jabiim and confronting their own mortality, finally realize the extent of their bond.


**Disclaimer:** A long time ago, somewhere far, far away, George Lucas invented Star Wars. Not me. I did, however, write this story the other day at school. Unfortunately, I don't own Anakin or Obi-Wan (though I wouldn't be opposed to the idea...)

Father and Son

"Good luck, Master Kenobi. And may the Force be with you," Kit Fisto declared solemnly, inclining his head slightly and blinking his huge yellow eyes with great melancholy.

"Thank you." Obi-Wan bowed to the Jedi Council, noting the sad looks on the faces of the comrades he had known ever since he could remember. Silence hung in the Council chamber. Obi-Wan gave a weak grin and tried to chuckle. "Just be sure to give us a joint funeral, okay? You know, to save money for the war effort and all." No one even smiled, much less laughed, as Obi-Wan left the room.

The Jedi Master sighed. Jabiim! How in the name of the Force was he going to tell Anakin that the Council had just sent them to Jabiim?

He pushed open the door to the chambers that the pair still shared. Although Anakin was a full-fledged Jedi Knight now and technically no longer Obi-Wan's Padawan learner, the chaos and turmoil of the Clone Wars kept them away from the Temple so much that they hadn't even bothered to move Anakin into his own room. In truth, Obi-Wan often thought Anakin liked it better this way anyhow, since the young man insisted that Obi-Wan made him feel less afraid. Just what he was afraid of, the older Jedi did not exactly know, nor did he really want to find out. Obi-Wan always joked that Anakin was just waiting for his former Master to die so he could take over their quarters. Now that he thought about it, that might be truer than they had realized. The death part, anyways.

"Anakin? Anakin, are you here sti-?" Obi-Wan stopped midsentence as he entered the room and nearly tripped over his former apprentice. Anakin lay sprawled out on the floor, sleeping restlessly, his brownish-blonde hair flopping over his closed eyes, his black Jedi robes still on.

Obi-Wan bent down. "Ani, wake up," he murmured, softly shaking the young man awake. "Ani."

Anakin sat up almost immediately, grabbing instinctively for his lightsaber. "What is it, Master? What's wrong?"

"Put the lightsaber down, Ani." Anakin complied, but continued staring questioningly at the older man. Anakin's vibrant blue eyes pierced Obi-Wan's heart. He would _not _let Anakin die, the Jedi Master vowed to himself. He was just too young, too full of life, too…special.

"Master?" Anakin asked again. "What's the matter now?"

"Don't jump to conclusions, Ani, how many times have I told you that. Do you truly know that anything _is_ the matter, or are you just guessing?"

"Master, you're calling me Ani. You only do that when something's wrong. Usually when our lives are in danger, come to think of it."

Obi-Wan didn't answer for a minute. "They're sending us to Jabiim, Ani," he muttered quietly.

Anakin opened his mouth, then shut it again. "When? Why?"

"Knight Offee is there running the med center."

"Barriss? What happened? Is she alright? If they hurt her –''

"I don't know anything, Anakin. We haven't received any communications from Jabiim for over a week now."

"So they're sending us?" Anakin stood up suddenly and began grabbing random, probably useless supplies and shoving them carelessly into a small, torn travel bag. "Fine. I'll go. I'll get everyone out of there. But I don't see why you have to come."

Obi-Wan regarded Anakin with a perplexed look. "What? We're a team. Unless you don't want-''

"No, Master, that's not it at all. I just meant…okay, I know the Council hates me. But they can very easily get me killed on Jabiim without endangering you at all."

"They don't hate you, Anakin. We've been over this before."

"If you say so." Anakin rolled up his spare cloak and stuffed it into his bag.

"And no one's trying to kill you off, either."

"What about Ventress?" the younger Jedi shot back, grinning despite the dire situation the pair would soon be facing on the deadly, blood-soaked battlefield that was the planet Jabiim.

"Okay, besides her," Obi-Wan conceded.

"And Durge?" Anakin continued.

"Pack your clothes," Obi-Wan instructed, chuckling in spite of himself. "We have to leave as soon as possible."

Anakin's face suddenly went pale. "Oh, no," he murmured.

"What?"

"Padmé. How in the galaxy am I going to tell her that we're going to Jabiim?"

A few standard hours later, Obi-Wan sat in the copilot's seat and idly watched his former apprentice expertly work their ship's controls. "Anakin, answer me," he commanded. "What did you tell her?"

Anakin refused to meet his Master's gaze. "I just said…well…that we would be gone for a little while."

"You didn't tell her where you were going, did you?" Obi-Wan groaned. "Anakin, how could you do that to her?"

"I don't want her to worry."

"You think she won't worry once HoloNet finds out you're on Jabiim?"

Anakin clenched his teeth and did not answer. The two flew in silence for some time, each lost in his own thoughts. After entering lightspeed, Anakin put the ship in autopilot and leaned back to stare at Obi-Wan. "What?" Obi-Wan finally asked him.

Anakin shook his head. "I was just thinking…I mean, I wonder if I'll ever see you again."

Obi-Wan put a hand on Anakin's arm, and to his astonishment, Anakin turned and threw his arms around the older Jedi, hugging Obi-Wan tightly. "I love you, Master," Anakin whispered. "I love you."

Obi-Wan blinked away the tears that suddenly sprang to his eyes and awkwardly patted his friend on the back. "It's okay, Ani," he attempted to reassure the young man. "Don't worry. We'll be fine." Anakin nodded, but neither man really believed those words.

The next day, Anakin brought the ship out of hyperspace and circled Jabiim in an attempt to land without attracting the notice of the Separatist forces that currently controlled the planet.

"Where's the base?" he asked, scanning the surface below them and trying to ignore the pools of blood and mangled bodies decorating the ground.

"You're going to land at the base?" Obi-Wan replied, clearly not in favor of the idea. "We'll never get through." As if to underscore his point, a jarring blast from one of the attacking enemy ships bounced off their shields, shaking the small spacecraft. Anakin did not answer, but gritted his teeth in concentration and, carefully avoiding the Separatist bombardments, expertly brought their ship down directly beside the nearly-destroyed structure that once served as the Republic's military outpost on the planet.

Obi-Wan groaned. He knew Anakin was anxious to determine if any of their forces had managed to survive the slaughter, but landing this close to the battle zone basically advertised their presence and dared the enemy to attack. Oddly enough, though, the Separatist ships did not follow them to the ground, and even when the two Jedi disembarked and cautiously made their way to the ruined base, no land combat forces even appeared, much less attacked.

Silence hung uncomfortably in the smoky air as Anakin and Obi-Wan, blue lightsabers drawn, reached the fort. Obi-Wan moved to open the door, but Anakin stepped in front of him and swung out his black-gloved hand to stop the older man. "I'm going first," the young Jedi announced tersely. Obi-Wan opened his mouth to argue, but the fierce look in Anakin's azure eyes left no room for debate.

"I'll cover you," Obi-Wan conceded at last, and with that, Anakin pushed on the burnt, half-collapsed door and entered the base.

"Holy Sith," he muttered, halting in mid-step. As he followed his former Padawan into the bloody, war-torn room, Obi-Wan had to agree. Fragments of battle droids, as well as the bodies of both clone troopers and organic Separatist soldiers (most likely drafted, due to the well-publicized shortage of Separatist enlistees, Obi-Wan noted with regret), littered the floor. Vomit, blood, and what looked unpleasantly like human insides splattered the walls. Most horrifying of all, the tattered robes of two Jedi Knights lay bunched in a corner, soaked through with fresh blood. Using the Force to clear a path through the slaughter, Anakin ran over to the robes and shook them out. A lone lightsaber hilt, clearly broken, tumbled from one of the pockets. Anakin picked it up and ran his hand over the streamlined weapon.

"This is Barriss's," he informed Obi-Wan, who by this time had picked his way around the bodies to stand by his comrade's side.

Obi-Wan silently took the lightsaber from Anakin's trembling hand and pocketed it. "We'll give it to Luminara," he declared solemnly.

Anakin stared at him, shaking his head in disbelief. "No, we'll give it back to Barriss."

"Ani," Obi-Wan began, in the patient, all-too-familiar tone he always adopted when trying to get Anakin to accept reality. "Barriss is most likely dead by now."

"No." Anakin's hard, fierce tone dared Obi-Wan to argue the point. Pushing past the Jedi Master, Anakin marched down a darkened corridor leading off from the bunker's main room. Obi-Wan stood in the middle of the bloody mess and watched Anakin go, shaking his head sadly as the young man stormed off, splashing through blood puddles on his mad quest for Force-knew-what.

"Master!" A strangled cry from somewhere in the depths of the fortress jerked Obi-Wan Kenobi out of thoughts. "Master! Get over here!"

Knocking aside dismantled battle droids and headless helmets, Obi-Wan crashed through the bunker as the sounds of blasters, shouts, and the snap-hiss of a lightsaber rang through the metal building. Bursting into a smaller room off the main hall, ignited lightsaber in hand, Obi-Wan found his former apprentice fending off at least forty battle droids and twenty-five organic, mostly humanoid Separatist "recruits". A few clones struggled half-alive on the cold ground, and on the other side of Anakin, sheltered behind his black-booted legs and lying flat on her face, slumped Barriss Offee.

Springing into action, Obi-Wan joined Anakin's fight, and in less than five standard minutes, the pair had the enemy droids scattered in pieces around the room. The live soldiers, however, were somewhat more problematic, as Jedi policy strictly mandated that such forcibly drafted, practically enslaved beings be left alive when at all possible. Obi-Wan and Anakin thus attempted both to calm the minds of the less hostile troopers, convincing them to lay down their weapons, and to dismember the hands of the more antagonistic ones who refused to give up their struggle. Limbs and blaster bolts flew through the air, increasing the room's chaotic state, and the moans of those in pain resounded in haunting affirmation of the suffering wrought by war.

Obi-Wan and Anakin fought on opposite sides of the room; Obi-Wan, graceful and rhythmic in his Form III style, casually defended attacks and ended assaults, while Anakin used the power and strength behind Form IV to disarm (in most cases, literally) their opponents. A quivering, clearly-shaken five-armed alien from a planet Anakin couldn't quite place approached Obi-Wan in an effort to surrender, and Obi-Wan powered down his lightsaber momentarily to accept the offer and still the poor creature's mind. Seeing Obi-Wan lower his guard, the remaining four soldiers charged the Jedi from behind, their pure, unbridled fury bent on his demise.

"Master, duck!" Leaping over to Obi-Wan's side, Anakin shoved him down out of the path of enemy fire before spinning around to face Obi-Wan's antagonists. In less than ten seconds, the four lay dead on the floor, their heads neatly sliced off and resting in pools of blood beside their battered bodies. Obi-Wan stood up and stared at Anakin, who in turn was staring at the dead soldiers as if amazed at what he had just done.

"Anakin…you could have kept them alive," Obi-Wan began hesitantly.

"No one tries to kill my Master and gets away with it," Anakin replied, almost to himself. Ignoring Obi-Wan's "That's no way to justify killing" response, he powered down his blue-white blade and hurried to Barriss's side.

"She's still breathing, but barely," he informed his Master. Obi-Wan joined him beside Barriss and gently rolled her over onto her back. Anakin gasped involuntarily. Barriss's face, normally pale and free of blemishes save the tribal tattoos adorning her chin, was covered in deep, oozing cuts.

"What happened to her?" Anakin wondered aloud, placing his hands on her stomach and calling on the Force to sooth his friend's wounds.

Obi-Wan moved to the clones and began checking for pulses. "I don't know," he replied. "But those injuries weren't the work of battle droids or common infantry."

"Ventress," Anakin proclaimed solemnly. It was not a question.

"You don't know that, Padawan. Don't jump to conclusions."

"I'm not, Anakin retorted hotly, shoving a torn note that he had pulled from Barriss's clenched fist into Obi-Wan's hand. "And I'm _not _your Padawan anymore."

"Uh-huh," Obi-Wan absently acknowledged as he smoothed the crumpled paper and squinted to decipher the sloppy script. "What the…a truce? Ani, am I reading this right?"

Anakin rolled his eyes. "Please don't tell me you actually think _Ventress _wants peace talks," he groaned. "How dumb does she think we are?"

Obi-Wan looked sharply at the young man, to the decapitated bodies on the floor, and back at Anakin. "Why not? We don't all love killing, you know."

Stung, Anakin opened his mouth to reply, then silently shut it again. Picking up the still-unconscious Barriss, he left the room without another word.

"Ani." Calling after him, Obi-Wan followed the young man.

"Master, just leave me alone," Anakin declared. He was sitting in a corner of the bunker's main room. Near the doorway, the shaken but finally conscious Barriss Offee slumped against a blood-soaked wall and munched listlessly on an energy ration bar. Beside her, the six clone troopers Obi-Wan had managed to heal sat together in a quiet semi-circle. Each of them, Obi-Wan noticed, was also eating a ration bar.

"Whose food is that?" Obi-Wan asked, already knowing the answer. Anakin looked at the floor and remained silent. "Ani, you have to eat on this mission too. How do you intend to-''

But he was cut off by a barrage of blaster fire that rocked the small building. One of the recovering clone troopers approached Obi-Wan. "General, we need to get out of here."

Obi-Wan nodded, then turned to Anakin, who, though still motionless and staring into space, now looked tense in anticipation of the coming battle. "Get Barriss and the troops to the ship," Anakin ordered, jumping up and igniting his lightsaber. "I'll hold them off and cover you."

"Anakin, shouldn't we –?"

"We don't have time to argue this," Anakin interrupted. "Just get that ship off the ground."

"You can't fight a war by yourself," Obi-Wan insisted, but the fierce, focused expression on his former Padawan's youthful face told him he just might be wrong. "And if they take our ship back, how do you propose _we _get off the planet?" the older Jedi Master continued.

"Pilot the ship. I'll cover you."

"Ani…"

"I said I'll cover you," Anakin snapped. "You're more important to the Jedi. And the war effort." With that, he spun on his heels and took off to confront the attacking forces bombarding the fort.

"But you're more important to me," Obi-Wan whispered, vowing to himself that, come what may, he would not allow his troubled, headstrong best friend to throw away his life. Even if Anakin wanted to.

Less than one standard hour later, Obi-Wan watched the starship carrying Barriss and the clones to safety take off amid a barrage of laser fire. As the ship disappeared into hyperspace, the weary Jedi Master approached Anakin, who was still concentrating intensely on deflecting the assaults and distracting the enemy.

"Come on, Ani, they're gone. Get back in the bunker," Obi-Wan called, igniting his own weapon to aid his partner.

Anakin halted in mid-strike and turned to stare at Obi-Wan. "I told you to go with them." The anger in his voice was unmistakable.

"And leave you?" Obi-Wan shot back, furious that Anakin would even think Obi-Wan would obey such an irrational command.

"I can take care of myse-'' Anakin began, but his words ended in a muted scream of pain as a blaster bolt tore into his shoulder. He had lowered his lightsaber to argue with his Master, but the attacking forces pressed in, intent to destroy the young man who had been expertly diminishing their ranks.

"Ani!" Obi-Wan sprang into action, catching his friend as Anakin swayed and stumbled backwards. The Jedi Master dragged the injured man back into the fort, ignoring Anakin's protests and struggles to break free.

Gasping for breath once safely inside the small refuge, Obi-Wan shoved Anakin onto the ground and held him down. "Ani, stop! Sit still. You're hurt," He ordered as he tried to take off Anakin's tunic and tend to his injury.

"Master, I…" Anakin's voice trailed off and his body stilled as he collapsed, unconscious, into his Master's arms.

He awoke with his arm bandaged and his cloak wrapped tightly around him like a blanket. The dim Jabiim sun was sinking below the ashy horizon and only the noise of Obi-Wan rummaging through their small supply packs broke the post-battle silence that lingered in the fortress.

Obi-Wan glanced up and caught sight of the now-conscious Anakin. "Feeling better?" he asked. Anakin nodded.

"Good. Do you think you'll be okay by yourself for an hour or so in the morning?"

Anakin's handsome face clouded with confusion and his pouty lips turned down slightly. "Why? Where are you going?"

"To negotiate."

Anakin's azure eyes darkened instantaneously. "With Ventress?"

"Yes, Anakin, with Ventress. And with any luck, we'll convince her to lend us a ship so we can get you to a real med center."

"Master, you do realize this is a set-up, right?"

Obi-Wan appeared thoughtful for a moment. "I'll be careful."

Anakin stood up and looked him straight in the eyes. Fire radiated from his gaze. "No, Obi-Wan. You'll be dead."

Obi-Wan sighed, shaking his reddish-brown hair. "That's a risk I'm willing to take."

"Well, I'm not," Anakin declared. "Quit being so selfish and think of someone else for a change." His voice choked and went soft. "Where will I be without you?"

Obi-Wan started, struck by the searing honesty in his former apprentice's tone. "The same place you are right now," he finally muttered, before turning away to resume his search for rations. Tension hung in the air the rest of the evening.

As the two men prepared to sleep that night, Obi-Wan attempted to reassure Anakin that he would be safe, yet his insistence was greatly undermined, by the fact that he slid his lightsaber and a spare blaster into his cloak pocket when he thought Anakin wasn't looking.

Obi-Wan cleared his throat uncomfortably as he lay down on the floor beside the younger man. "Anakin," he began, wanting to tell the boy so much and knowing that this very well could be his last chance. "I…"

"Yes?" Anakin responded, turning to look questioningly at his Master.

"I…" He shook his head. The words of his former Master reciting the Jedi Code played over and over through his mind. _There is no emotion, there is peace…There is no emotion…no emotion…no emotion._ No emotion…no attachment. But Qui-Gon Jinn certainly felt emotion, more so than most Jedi. _Yes,_ that disturbing voice inside Obi-Wan's head whispered, _he felt emotions. He loved you. And look what happened._

After Qui-Gon's death, Obi-Wan vowed that he would be the perfect Jedi. No passion, no emotion, and _absolutely_ no attachments. He swore to live without truly caring about anyone ever again, to not feel, to not love…but then the sandy blonde boy named Anakin Skywalker, an intensely passionate, overly emotional child who grew into an intensely passionate, overly emotional young man, somehow managed, despite Obi-Wan's best efforts, to worm his way into the Jedi Master's heart. Anakin was his Padawan, his partner, his closest friend, his brother, his _son_ – but how could he ever tell Ani all that?

"Yes, Master?" Anakin prompted him, giving the older man a quizzical look.

"Never mind," Obi-Wan eventually responded. "Just get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes, Master." Anakin dutifully rolled onto his side, shut his eyes, and, in what seemed to Obi-Wan a remarkably short time, fell fast asleep. Obi-Wan sighed, mentally kicking himself for all he did not say and watching the rise and fall of Anakin's chest until he too drifted off to sleep. The Jedi Master was so exhausted from the trials of the past day that it never crossed his mind that Anakin had obeyed him _much_ too readily.

Almost as soon as Obi-Wan fell asleep, Anakin noiselessly sprang up. Exchanging his pitch black cloak for Obi-Wan's dark brown one and taking his Master's lightsaber instead of his own, he silently moved towards the door. Pausing at the exit, he looked back for a moment, cementing the image of his sleeping Master in his mind. Creeping back to Obi-Wan's side, Anakin slipped off the Jedi signet ring Obi-Wan had given him when he became a Jedi Knight, as was traditional in the Order, and placed it in the older man's hand before tearing himself away and striding purposefully out the door, stealing himself up to bravely meet the certain death he willing was hurrying towards.

A few hours later, stretching in the dull half-light of dawn, Obi-Wan opened his eyes and rolled over to say goodbye to Anakin before departing, only to find his former Padawan gone. Looking down at the glittering blue ring clenched in his palm, the black cloak thrown on the bloody ground, and the hilt of Anakin's lightsaber lying near Obi-Wan's head. The Jedi Master instantly realized exactly what Anakin had done. "Sith," he spat, grabbing Anakin's discarded weapon and racing out the door, hoping against hope that he was not already too late.

Breathing heavily from sprinting faster than he thought was physically possible, Obi-Wan pushed through the thick forest, hurrying to the clearing Ventress had chosen as their meeting place. As he brushed back the last prickly branches, Obi-Wan stumbled wearily into the clearing and immediately halted in shock. The color drained from his face as he took in the blasters, droid parts, and dismembered limbs that lay strewn on the dusty ground around a bloody, too-still form wrapped in Obi-Wan's cloak.

"Ani!" Obi-Wan ran over to his friend and, kneeling by his lifeless body, rolled the young man onto his back. Blood matted his soft, shoulder-length hair and trickled down his inordinately pale face, and his dark leather tunic and cotton pants were torn and ripped, clearly from blaster bolts, in many places. Anakin's lips, pursed together in pain, looked dry and cut, and no sign of breath or a heartbeat escaped his limp form. "Ani!" Obi-Wan repeated, desperately shaking the young man before gathering Anakin's body into his arms.

Sitting trembling in the middle of the clearing, Obi-Wan held Anakin to his chest and rocked him back and forth. Tears ran unbidden down his cheeks, and the despairing Jedi Master gently stroked Anakin's deathly cold forehead as he whispered to the unhearing man. "I'm so sorry, Ani. I'm so sorry. I couldn't tell you before…and now I'm too late…just like with Qui-Gon." His voice cracked and fell off for a while. "Ani," he finally began again, "You're my best friend. And I know we fight a lot, and I wasn't the greatest Master…but I guess I didn't want to feel anything anymore, and you made me…well, you made me feel again. You're not my Padawan anymore, but you're still such an important part of me…I know you wanted a father and you needed a lot more than I ever gave you…but you…you _are_ a son to me, Ani…You're my little boy…and I know I…I haven't told you before…I couldn't…and now I can't tell you at all…but I…I…I love you, Anakin!" Hugging Anakin to his chest, Obi-Wan finally gave in to his emotions entirely and collapsed, sobbing violently. "I love you…"

Anakin groaned very faintly and stirred in Obi-Wan's arms. "Master?" he murmured quietly.

The older man started, his heart racing with a joy he thought he would never again experience. "Ani?"

"Master…" Anakin repeated, struggling just to breathe, much less speak. Although he bravely tried not to show it, the young man was clearly in horrible pain. "Promise me…promise you'll take care of Padmé," he pleaded quietly. "And tell her…tell her I love her."

Obi-Wan gently brushed Anakin's bloody hair out of his eyes and stroked his forehead in an attempt to comfort him. "You'll be able to tell her soon enough," he assured Anakin, but the young man grabbed his hand fiercely in protest.

"Master, stop. Stop pretending," he gasped. "I'm dying."

He said it with such grace, such calm acceptance, that it took Obi-Wan a moment to register the words. The Jedi Master's eyes swam with tears again. "No, Ani," he argued. "No. I'll get you out of here. You'll be alright. And then we'll-''

Anakin cut him off. "Tell Padmé…and our new…" he insisted weakly, and Obi-Wan nodded mutely, too overcome with grief to argue any more, much less worry what new acquisition his former apprentice was talking about.

Anakin's breath came slower now, and his body twitched in pain. He reached up as if trying to hold on to Obi-Wan, tightly gripping his friend's hands. "Master…" he whispered urgently, "Master…"

"Why did you do it, Ani?" Obi-Wan questioned despairingly. "Why?"

"I…because…you're my…I lo-…I love you," he murmured. With that, his grip slackened, his eyes fell closed, and his tremulous breathing ceased entirely.

Crying softly, Obi-Wan clutched Anakin's body to his chest and rocked his lifeless form back and forth. His mind whirled in pain at the sudden icy emptiness that flooded him. He tried to shut out the truth, tried to concentrate only on Anakin's peaceful face and ignore the pool of blood soaking the boy, tried to pretend his former Padawan was only sleeping, exhausted from a long mission, instead of dead. _Dead._ He could barely thing think the word, much less accept it as reality. But deep down he knew that it was. Some part of him, the same part that had forced him to admit that Master Qui-Gon had been killed, mercilessly hammered the truth into his already-drained heart. There would be no more sparring matches at the Temple, no more daring, completely reckless rescues, no more sickening speeder flights through Coruscant traffic or late-night conversations about ethics, battle strategies, and Mace Windu's homosexual tendencies…He would never again see Anakin smirk overconfidently, pout adorably to get his way, or collapse in self-deprecating tears caused by doubt, fear, and frustration with his inability to save the entire galaxy. He would never again watch Anakin build yet another unnecessary droid, would never again hear his heartfelt laughter, smart-aleck comeback, or pained, passionate cries of loss and utter despair. Blackness and dancing specks of light flickered before Obi-Wan's clouded eyes, and for once he completely surrendered to his feelings and did not even try to hold back his tears, curses, yells.

But then, in the midst of this most horrible, darkest time of his life, Obi-Wan, still holding Anakin's broken body, heard the sound of life. Anakin's weak heart jumped suddenly in his chest. Obi-Wan could barely hear the young man's heart slowly beating out a faint, erratic rhythm imperceptible to all save the most highly trained Jedi, but it was undeniably a heartbeat nonetheless. Obi-Wan, momentarily stunned and eternally grateful, sprang into action. Anakin was alive, but barely, and he was clearly terribly injured. The boy wouldn't even have a chance of surviving unless he got to a civilized med center right away. Obi-Wan scooped Anakin up and sprinted towards the landing pad near the fort.

And then he remembered. The ship. Anakin had told Barriss and the troopers to take the ship back to Coruscant. Leaving the two Jedi stranded on Jabiim. "Sith," Obi-Wan muttered to the unconscious Anakin. "You really do want to die out here, don't you?" Anakin, drifting precariously between life's painful light and death's cold embrace, did not respond. "Well, I won't let you," Obi-Wan vowed, more to himself than to his friend. "We're leaving."

Racing through the forest, the Jedi Master reached out to the Force and, after a few unsuccessful attempts, managed to touch living minds. The minds of Anakin's attackers, he thought bitterly, but he was too smart to seek revenge right now. Wherever Ventress and her minions were hiding, Obi-Wan knew, their ship would be nearby. And considering Anakin's current condition, transportation was much more important than vengeance at the moment.

Obi-Wan subtly dashed through the trees, using his Jedi abilities to evade detection as he ran to Ventress's glistening golden starship. Neither the bald Sith trainee nor her Separatist troops even noticed his presence until he had taken off, cleared atmosphere, and was half-way to lightspeed, setting the shortest possible course to Alderaan, the nearest planet with competent healers.

In what seemed like an eternity but really was less than a standard hour, Obi-Wan landed, and two days later, Anakin finally awoke, struggled to prop himself up in his med center bed, and stared around the room in complete confusion. He obviously had no clue where he was, but his azure eyes sparkled with joy nonetheless when he finally realized the identity of the cloaked man sitting on the foot of his bed. "Master!" Despite his weakened state, Anakin threw himself at Obi-Wan, who hugged his former Padawan as though he were a little boy.

After a long moment, the embrace ended, and Obi-Wan had to look away for a second in order to wipe his eyes. Anakin, on the other hand, was crying openly. Obi-Wan pushed the hair out of Anakin's eyes and wiped his friend's wet cheeks. "Sssh," he assured him. "It's all over now. You're alright."

"I never thought I'd see you again," Anakin confided. "I thought I would die…and I was ready to…but…I'd miss you forever…" He fell silent and glanced guiltily at his Master. "Are you mad?"

"What!" Obi-Wan was completely taken aback. "Why would I be?"

"Because I disobeyed you."

Anakin smiled weakly and hugged Obi-Wan yet again. "Good," he declared. "Because I meant it."

"Meant what?"

"What I did. I love you, Master. I can't lose you. And I _will_ die for you, if that's what it takes to keep you safe." His eyes glowed with a frightening sincerity. "I swear."

"And I swear that I will not let _you _die," Obi-Wan countered. "No matter what."

"Really?" Anakin asked. Obi-Wan looked at him, perplexed. Anakin always seemed so surprised to find out that people cared about him. Obi-Wan knew from years of training the boy that the scars of Anakin's slavery still made him feel worthless and unwanted, no matter his accomplishments, strengths, and skills.

"Of course, Ani," Obi-Wan affirmed. His voice went soft as he watched Anakin's blue eyes tear up with emotion. "After all, you _are _my son," he continued, clasping Anakin's hand and pressing it tightly. "And you always will be."


End file.
